Stop the 5G Rollout in Australia

Jessie Reimers started this petition to The Hon Greg Hunt MP (Minister for Health)

Most people think that 5G is just like 2G, 3G and 4G and that it will just mean we have faster internet.

Unfortunately this could come at a great cost to public health and safety as 5G technology is very different to anything we’ve had in the past.

Why are we rolling this technology out without a single, independent test for biological safety on not only our own health but our children, animals, the environment and insects, especially bees?

What is 5G

5G technology will dramatically change our exposure to wireless radiation. Initially the technology will use sub-millimeter waves 6-30 GHz and in the future all the way up to 300GHz.

Instead of having one large phone tower that facilitates the signal reception of cellular phones and other wireless communication devices over a broad area like we have currently, 5G will include not only the large phone tower but also antennae or small cells down the track, set up about every 100 to 500 meters.

Already I have seen base stations and towers attached to the top of apartment buildings where people sleep, on top of and very close to childcare centres, on top of shops and in workplace yards as well as outside homes.

This is concerning because 5G is designed to deliver concentrated and focused electromagnetic radiation far greater than current levels and will result in a massive increase in inescapable, involuntary exposure to wireless radiation.

ARPANSA which is the Australian Government, Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency who set the safety standard limits for exposure to radio frequency (the technology 5G use) say that the operation frequencies of the 5G network are included within the limits set by the ARPANSA safety standard.

The ARPANSA safety limits are set at 1000 µW (microwatts) per cm2, up to 300GHz. This was set in 2002 against a senate committee recommendation of 200 µW/cm2 in 2001.

Despite the fact that many other countries such as China, Russia, Bulgaria and Poland set the limit at 10 µW/cm2, Switzerland sets their safety standard even lower at 9.5 µW/cm2 and in sensitive areas at 4.25 and parts of Austria set the safety limit even lower at .0001 µW/cm2.

WHY IS OURS 100 TIMES HIGHER THAN MANY OTHER COUNTRIES WORLDWIDE?

What is also alarming is that they have a disclaimer on their website that says that their info should only be used as a guide for education purposes and that you should seek professional advice (ie a doctor).

If their information should only be as a guide, why is it the standard that is being used to roll out 5G?

In another article on the ARPANSA website Dr Karipidis admits that the higher frequencies used in 5G technology will penetrate human tissue and acknowledges that there are gaps in this knowledge that require further research, ‘ARPANSA therefore has made recommendations for areas where further studies are needed. The recommendations include research for frequencies above 6 GHz and for emerging technologies that use them like 5G. But they go on to say that despite gaps in the knowledge, no health effects are expected from radio frequency exposures below the limits set in the ARPANSA standard.

"ARPANSA has ignored a large evidence base that challenges their position. The scientific evidence we have collated, presented and made publicly available demonstrates that there are biological/health effects occurring at exposures well below the ARPANSA standard. Therefore, ARPANSA’s claim that there is “no substantiated evidence that RF exposure at levels below the limits of the ARPANSA Standard causes harm to humans” is misleading. A risk management approach should be adopted urgently for RF-EMR with ALARA as the mainstay of this plan. Wireless technology is not risk-free as implied by ARPANSA’s claim of “no established evidence of harm”. Australians need to be informed of the risks so that they can make informed decisions when it comes to the use of wireless technology, particularly with regards to more vulnerable groups such as children."

Scientists are cautioning that before rolling out 5G, research on human health effects urgently needs to be done FIRST to ensure the public and environment are protected, unlike ARPANSA who are giving it the nod, despite having acknowledged more research needs to be done.

The bottom line is that safety guidelines from bodies such as ARPANSA are clearly designed to protect industry, not health, as the profits from the 5G rollout are immense.

In Europe, Over 26,000 scientists from more than 40 countries have expressed their serious concerns. Referring to numerous scientific publications that have shown that EMF affects living organisms at levels well below most international guidelines. This is particularly concerning given Australian guidelines are 100 times higher than most other countries.

Effects include increased cancer risk, cellular stress, increase in harmful free radicals, genetic damages, structural and functional changes of the reproductive system, learning and memory deficits, neurological disorders, and negative impacts on general well-being in humans. Damage goes well beyond the human race, as there is growing evidence of harmful effects to both plants and animals.

Dr. Sharon Goldberg, an internal medicine physician & professor, comments on 5G while speaking to the U.S. Senate.

“Wireless radiation has biological effects. Period. This is no longer a subject for debate when you look at PubMed and the peer-review literature. These effects are seen in all life forms; plants, animals, insects, microbes. In humans, we have clear evidence of cancer now: there is no question We have evidence of DNA damage, cardiomyopathy, which is the precursor of congestive heart failure, neuropsychiatric effects…5G is an untested application of a technology that we know is harmful; we know it from the science. In academics, this is called human subjects research.” ~Dr. Sharon Goldberg

Adding to the voices of dissent is Martin L. Pall, PhD and Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences at Washington State University. In a study and presentation, he takes a closer look at 5G technology, and issues a major warning for all of us.

“Putting in tens of millions of 5G antennae without a single biological test of safety has got to be about the stupidest idea anyone has had in the history of the world.” ~Martin L. Pall, PhD

The Oceania Radiofrequency Scientific Advisory Association Inc. ORSAA was formed in 2015 by a group of academics and researchers throughout Australia. Their goal is to provide an independent perspective on the science relating to electromagnetic radiation and human exposure. ORSAA is an independent organisation, not linked to any industry or government organisation.

Industry Corruption is Rife- Senate Inquiry

Regulators are deliberately excluding the scientific evidence of harm.

Stakeholders are the ones funding the research and saying 5G is safe.

Science cannot be trusted when the ones set to make a profit are the ones funding the studies.

“It was contended that the telecommunications industry will try to influence research into electromagnetic emissions to show that there are no ill effects from its technology: If you are a researcher doing research that is being funded by industry, if you are coming up with results that are not what the company wants to hear, you will not get further funding. But if you give results that look good you tend to get further funding. So there is very much a bias to slant your research towards the person who is providing the funding. Some submissions have claimed that industry cover-ups and interference in the publication of research results, and selection bias in the choice of studies to be funded, are reasons for the failure to replicate many studies that have shown a relationship between EMR and biological and health effects.”

This is just SOME of the damning evidence within this senate inquiry.

ORSAA have independently reviewed the research and found that when Industry fund studies, no effect is found 62% of the time, but when Institutions fund studies, no effect is only found 12% of the time.

So the constant industry claim that science is "inconclusive" is incorrect. They are swaying results.

Some Say that Non-Ionising Radiation Does Not Cause Harm to Humans

The repeated argument used in the media and by regulatory authorities is that “non ionising radiation doesn’t harm humans”.

“It’s non-ionising; the bottom line is it’s never been proven to cause cancer. It might sit in your skin and warm it up, but that doesn’t cause cancer.

“It’ll warm up your skin a tiny amount, but so tiny you won’t be able to measure it.”

The unfortunate truth is that this an outdated hypothesis and completely ignores current science which shows there are many non-thermal, biological effects associated with non-ionising radiation, the kind of radiation 5G technology will emit from small cells as well as large towers, right outside your house, schools and shops 24/7.

Even Samsung have released a statement that includes the following “While RF energy does not ionize particles, large amounts can increase body temperatures and cause tissue damage. Two areas of the body, the eyes and the testes, are particularly vulnerable to RF heating because there is relatively little blood flow in them to carry away excess heat.”

Did you know that on your iPhone you can also go to Settings>General>About>Legal>RF Exposure

They recommend to reduce exposure to RF energy, use a hands-free option, such as the built-in speakerphone, the supplied headphones or other similar accessories. Cases with metal parts may change the RF performance of the device, including its compliance with RF exposure guidelines, in a manner that has not been tested or certified.

NON-IONISING DAMAGE GOES BEYOND HEATING!!

Current safety guidelines are based on the obsolete hypothesis that heating is the only harmful effect of EMFs. As Markov and Grigoriev have stated,

“Today standards do not consider the real pollution of the environment with nonionizing radiation”. Hundreds of scientists have proven that many different kinds of acute and chronic illnesses and injuries are caused without heating (“non-thermal effect”) from radiation levels far below international guidelines. Biological effects occur even at near-zero power levels.

Despite widespread denial, the evidence that radio frequency (RF) radiation is harmful to life is already overwhelming. The accumulated clinical evidence of sick and injured human beings, experimental evidence of damage to DNA, cells and organ systems in a wide variety of plants and animals, and epidemiological evidence that the major diseases of modern civilization—cancer, heart disease and diabetes—are in large part caused by electromagnetic pollution, forms a literature base of well over 10,000 peer-reviewed studies.Information from https://www.5gspaceappeal.org/the-appeal

“There are many possible indirect effects that may occur, given the complexity of biology. But our situation goes way beyond that, because we know that most of the effects are produced via VGCC activation which produces, as downstream effects, the free radical breakdown products of peroxynitrite (Fig. 1, Chapter 2). Those free radical breakdown products attack DNA, proteins and other biological constituents in ways that are very similar to the ways in which ionizing radiation attack these same molecules. Ionizing radiation was shown by Arthur Compton, who won the Nobel prize in physics in 1927, for showing that ionizing radiation produces large numbers of free radicals through what has become known as Compton scattering, with those free radicals being responsible for most of the biological effects of ionizing radiation. So the often repeated industry claim that ionizing radiation is dangerous but non-ionizing radiation is not, is wrong – both of them produce similar effects mediated through free radical generation.”- Martin L Pall.

Frank Clegg- Former Head of Microsoft Canada, points out the safety standard only protects people from thermal damage that can occur through overheating, but scientists have demonstrated that radiation omitting devices can cause DNA damage without heating tissue, these are non thermal effects.

“Unfortunately the safety standards in North America and in Australia are based on this theory that’s many decades old, that if tissue doesn’t get heated, that it can’t cause harm. and that’s just out of date.. what the biologists tell us and have shown in many, many experiments and again in peer reviewed published papers- is that there is damage done at the DNA level and from a biological standpoint. Non thermal radiation can cause and does cause harm to humans.”

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation developed the Precautionary Principle which states that “When human activities may lead to morally unacceptable harm that is scientifically plausible but uncertain, actions shall be taken to avoid or diminish that harm.”

Rolling out 5G, without a truly independent, impartial task force of scientists with zero conflict of interest- to further research and understand the health implications associated with this new technology, flies in the face of the precautionary principle and breaks international law.

As Australian Citizens who are deeply concerned about the effects on humans, animals and the environment, we are calling for our Government and local Councils to take action and immediately halt this rollout and for another Senate Inquiry to uncover industry corruption and review ARPANSA and ACMA, their affiliation with Industry and whether our safety regulations are in fact enough to keep us safe.